New book "Eat Dat" offers readers an excellent guide to New Orleans' food culture, both pre- and post-Katrina

Michael Murphy was an outsider, something he acknowledges in his author’s note introducing his fabulous new book, “Eat Dat New Orleans: A Guide to the UniqueFood Culture of the Crescent City (Countryman Press).”

Like me, Murphy is a Midwesterner who grew up in the 1960s “raised on Steak ‘n’ Shake and Chicken in a Biscuit.” He moved to New Orleans just five years ago, too long after his first visit there in 1983, leaving behind the book publishing scene in New York City.

“Having been in the book business many years and having witnessed memoirs by Joe the Plumber, the nine-year-old Slumdog Millionaire star, Rubina Ali, writing about the trials and tribulations of her first eight years; and George W. Bush writing about decision making. I am less concerned about have the credentials to write a book,” Murphy wrote. 

“But a book about my beloved New Orleans and its iconic food culture was another matter,” he continues. “However, in the writing of this book I have learned that most of the top food critics brought little more to the job at the beginning than a passion for New Orleans and a love of our food. Those I have in spades.”

From all of us Northerners who have had a taste of the South and wish we indulge in it more often, thank you. I bring the same passion to this barbecue blog, when I am able to sit down to write.

I made my first trip to the place Murphy unapologetically calls “the greatest city in America” back in 1987 and sadly have only been able to return a handful of times. As with barbecue, I do my best to replicate some of its flavors here in my Indiana kitchen.

“Eat Dat,” Murphy’s 256-page guide to New Orleans, is more than a restaurant guide. It is a loving re-introduction to a place many sadly still mainly associate with Hurricane Katrina and its legacy. He opens the book with a “brief and (mostly) bona fide history” of the city’s food.

“Take me back to Black’s," our first stop in Lockhart, the Barbecue Capital of Texas

Black's Barbecue

Editor's note: Barbecued Adventures will be relaunched in early 2014 with new posts about barbecue, pitmasters and related travel. This post dates back to Feb. 6, 2011. Thank you for reading and place come back often.





The sign outside Black’s Barbecue says they’re open “8 days a week.”

Back in February of 1965, the Beatles released a single of the same title. Thirty-three years earlier, Edgar Black Sr. and a partner opened a little meat market in Lockhart, Texas.

In those days before refrigeration, it became necessary to cook and sell already cut meat as barbecue.

According to their web site, Norma Black, daughter-in-law to the original owner, says of the sign outside the main entrance at 215 N. Main St., "If you're here as much as we are, you find a few extra days in that time ... It's easier to remember when we're closed -- Thanksgiving and Christmas -- than when we're open."

Today, we are thankful for that. Black’s remains as popular as ever and is the oldest barbecue restaurant that has been continuously operated by the same family in the state of Texas.

Step inside and as you wait in line, you’re immersed in the history of Black’s and, to some extent, Texas.

Fresh with a degree from Texas A&M, Edgar Black Jr. and his wife took over the place in 1949 after his father died suddenly. They were going to run it until they could find another family member to take it over.

You know you're in Texas in Black's dining room.

Pictures on the wall show their life together and introduce us to a family that is now operating the restaurant into its fourth generation, after 80 years.

Also up on the wall to your right are framed photos of local visiting celebrities. There are pictures of former Texas Gov. Ann Richards and the 36th president of the United States, Lyndon Johnson, who asked the Blacks to serve their sausage on the grounds of the U.S. Capital.

To your left are windows, where you jealously watch the fortunate ones who already are digging in.

When you reach the vegetables at the salad bar and steam table, you realize that you’re here for more than a history lesson. Deviled eggs. Pinto beans. Black-eyed peas. Cole slaw. Potato salad.

It’s all freshly made. Just like the brisket.

According to the Blacks, Edgar, Jr. was one of the first barbecue places in the country to exclusively use the brisket cut of beef. They say others copied them.

While I won’t enter that debate, I will say that Edgar Jr.’s recipe to cook briskets coated in a combination of black pepper, salt and spices, over oak logs for 24 hours, is delectable.

Next time, we’ll have to try the turkey. Or the chicken. Or the ham. The only blemish on our experience was my wife’s pork ribs, which were a little dry (but then this is Texas).

In recent years, in response to “a lot of people from the North,” Norma Black created a sauce for the meat, which I tried. A young barbecue aficionado from nearby Austin recommended that I also use the Ghost Chili sauce, which I did not find as hot as expected.

I first learned of Black’s Barbecue thanks to the Travel Channel’s “Barbecue Paradise” program. But it also has received considerable national recognition in outlets such as the New York Times, Texas Monthly, Bon Appetit and Gourmet (which it has outlasted). You’ll find all the video and articles online at their web site at www.blacksbbq.com.

The bumper stickers say, “Take Me Back to Black’s.” I only wish it weren’t so far away from where we live, in Indiana.

Location we visited:
Black's Barbecue
215 North Main Street
Lockhart, Texas
888-632-8225